Chevron first entered China in 1904, when it began selling kerosene for lamps and home heating. In the 1920s, we opened service stations and sales outlets in major Chinese cities. During the late 1930s, we began marketing petroleum products under the Caltex® brand.
In 1979, Chevron was one of the first Western companies to re-enter China. Chevron became a partner in one of China's first offshore oil production projects, in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea. Discovered in 1985, the Huizhou oil fields began production in 1990.
In 2007, the company signed a 30-year production-sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corporation for the joint development of the Chuandongbei natural gas field in central China.
Chevron participates as a one-sixth owner of the Australian North West Shelf Venture liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which won the right to provide natural gas to China's first LNG supply contract. In 2006, the Chevron-operated Northwest Swan LNG carrier made the first North West Shelf deliveries to China's first LNG facility, in Guangdong Province.
Through our joint venture Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC (CPChem) and its affiliates, we began operating a polystyrene plant in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, in 2000. Polystyrene is used to make plastic dinnerware, CD cases, insulation and foam drink cups, among other things.
Development Programs
Chevron provides the local Chinese workforce with many learning and development opportunities. Courses cover subjects ranging from management and leadership training to communication skills and petroleum industry primers.
Chevron launched a career development program in 2008 in China. Eighteen positions were made available to university master's degree graduates by July 2012. As of early 2013, another five positions were expected to be offered to Chinese graduates with backgrounds in petroleum studies.
Chevron also extends development programs to our joint-venture partners. For example, new employees entering the CNOOC/Agip/Chevron/Texaco (CACT) Operators Group (a consortium of China National Offshore Oil Corp. [CNOOC], Agip and Chevron) are given hands-on training in order to work effectively and safely. We frequently use employee exchanges to share technology and skills with our Chinese partners. In spring 2012, we hosted two training sessions for Sinopec at Chevron's Energy Technology Company in Houston, Texas. Twenty-four engineers and geologists from Sinopec received training on safe and effective development of large-scale shale gas resources.
In 1985, Chevron began licensing our proprietary Vacuum Residue Desulfurization technology to Sinopec Qilu Petrochemicals in Shandong Province. The technology is used to reduce sulfur content in fuel. We later licensed a hydroprocessing technology to Sinopec Qilu as well. Chevron's hydroprocessing technology helps refiners improve the quality and increase the quantity of their base oil production.
Awards and Recognition
In August 2010, Chevron and our partners in Bohai Bay received two awards from the Chinese government. The National Auditing Agency recognized the joint venture for compliance with auditing, business ethics and anticorruption efforts. The second award was from the Chinese Environmental Protection Agency for replacing a crude-burning generator with a gas turbine generator. Gas that was previously flared—or burned off—now generates power and saves more than 100 barrels of oil per day.
Several publications and their readers presented Caltex with honors in 2012.
- Reader's Digest recognized Caltex stations for the best service for the 12th straight year.
- Hong Kong's Next Magazine gave Caltex the Top Service Award for the sixth year in a row.
- Lisa Magazine honored Caltex with the Quality Life Award.
The company was also recognized in 2012 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, a group of 370 nongovernmental organizations. For the eighth year running, Chevron received the Caring Company Award for our efforts in caring for the community, our employees and the environment.
Updated: April 2013
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